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I think it depends how long you can "stand" living where you are, and how desperate you are to move.

Personally, if it were brand new and I COULD have had the chance to pick what I wanted, it would probably bother me. I mean, especially since it's new, you're going to be living with it for a long time.

I would either keep looking, because it sounds like there are other things you don't like about the house, or I would paint the trim and cabinets. If I bought a house and knew I would be living there a while, I would definitely want the colors to be something I like.

Seems like a minor annoyance, but it depends whether you have time to keep looking and whether you think the other options on the market will be better or worse. My parents lived with a very ugly kitchen trim for almost a decade because fixing up a kitchen after you move is such a pain. At some point the list of things that had to be done in the kitchen reached critical mass and they went for gut renovation. It's the prettiest room in the house now

I don't think there's any such thing as a "perfect" house. There's always going to be something you wish you could change.

If it was already installed and you saw the house, would you not buy it simply because of the stain?

I wouldn't turn it down due to something that can so easily be changed. If you hate the layout, that's one thing (it's hard to move a bedroom!). But trim can be changed down the road.

I had wanted white as well, but it was an upgrade that I didn't want to take on the additional cost of. So I ended up with chestnut cabinets. I've been there 4 years and like them enough, but in my next house hopefully I can afford the white ones.

Make yourself feel better by considering the cost (if it would be more for white even if they hadn't picked the cabinets yet) and how hard it can be to keep white cabinets cleaned.

@LuLu Mom: by the way, I've really been clinging to the whole "you can't change where the house is" thing, as our house has quite a bit of unexpected work we are doing in addition to plenty of cosmetic updates we knew about (wallpaper. Ugh). So I remind myself that I love our street and we could not have bought a house on a street like this that we didn't need to put some work into. So new build with wood trim sounds dreamy.

I would really look more at location and layout than trim color. Yes it would bug me but if everything else was "right" I could overlook it (or pay to fix it).

We bought a home two years ago with the same situation - there was dark wood trim and cabinetry which we didn't want. We wanted white. We bought it because there was literally nothing else on the market we wanted and I have to say it's been a total non-issue and I actually really like it most days. I am surprising myself by saying that but it's true.

I would get over it since it meets so many of your bigger requirements.

Whenever I get to thinking about redoing stuff in my house to meet the latest home-decor trends (and white kitchens are definitely a trend, though I love them!), I read this and feel better and put my $$ elsewhere: http://momastery.com/blog/2014/08/11/give-liberty-give-debt/

Also, our master bedroom is downstairs and the other bedrooms are upstairs. It's not ideal for now when our kids are little, but I do think it'll be nice as they get older.

I'd pause at the cabinets and trim, but the floor plan would be a deal breaker for me.

If you don't mind the layout then it seems like this is a good choice for you. And as others have said, it's harder to keep white cabinets clean so there is a definite positive to not having them. I love ours, but it's because our kitchen is SO dark and it lightened it up. Otherwise I don't think I'd care at all.

Do you mean the wood trim through the entire house is stained, not white? That would be a big hang up for me. I have friends that bought a house that had 90s style wood stained trim throughout and they spent months and months repainting everything. I would see what you could work out with the builder - could they use the materials on a different house? Could they paint the trim white even though it's been stained?

I would also not love that layout. I like being on the same level as small children. Maybe when my kids are older I'd be ok with it though.

I had the same problem but cabinets were already (newly and expensively) installed. I also hated the countertops, which were new and expensive as well. I compromised and figure we can live with it for a few years then I'll have them painted or stained to a color I like better. And we've already chipped the countertops so I'm like the more damage the better, lol.

@LuLu Mom: it might be possible to put that in the contract. I didn't think that sort of thing went in contracts, but just recently I saw one that specified repainting a peeling ceiling and cleaning a bathtub, of all things...

We have 2 up and 2 down. Initially I thought I would hate it (the first night was hard for me) but it's actually fine and we have had zero issues. It's actually nice in that dd2 never woke dd1 up because the nursery is on a different floor than her room.

When dd2 is ready for her big girl room, we will move her to the same floor as her sister so they are together. My crazy plan is to convert the nursery (which is next to the master) to a spare room with two twins in it, so if they ever do want to sleep on the same floor as us they can. But Dd1 has been on a different floor for a year and half and has never voiced concern.

I would wait to see if something that meets more of your criteria comes on the market. I don't know about your particular market, but where I am, winter is really slow for new listings. There should be way more listings come spring!